Day 245, Year 7: Happy Birthday to My Sister Patsy
Date: Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Weather: Another Perfectly Beautiful Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Happy birthday to my sister Patsy. I won’t tell you how old she is, but I
will tell you she was born in 1933. I think you can figure out the age, but
I will also tell you that she looks and acts much younger than those years
would indicate. Patsy, I hope you had a wonderful day and I can only hope
that I will be doing as well as you when I am your age.
I thought Mark’s birthday celebrations were over, but when we got to
Heather’s today, there was a package for Mark from New Mexico from Justin,
Jo, and Ziggy. It arrived yesterday, but since Heather and gang were in
Woods Hole, they didn’t know the package had arrived until they got home
late in the day. Inside the package was a yummy surprise. There was a pint
of home canned apricot jam and dried apricots from Justin and Jo’s apricot
tree. There were some other treats but the apricots were so special. Late
last fall when Justin and Jo moved to Ojo Sarco we saw a photo of Ziggy
playing in the bright yellow leaves of that tree. It was such a contrast to
the dry desert terrain where they had lived in Madrid, south of Santa Fe.
Then we saw the tree in the dead of winter when we were in New Mexico for
Christmas. In March we saw photos of the tree’s blossoms covered in snow and
ice and we were sure they wouldn’t get fruit this year. But then when
Heather and Jed were in New Mexico the first of June they saw the young
fruit. Last week I saw a photo of a box of the ripe apricots on Jo’s
Facebook and then today Mark received gifts from that tree. Thank you to
Justin, Jo, and Ziggy for sharing your bounty. What a beautiful cycle of
life that apricot tree represents. We will try the jam tomorrow morning but
we ate some of the dried apricots today and they were the best we’ve ever
had.
We also got another special surprise today. Out of the blue, Sam decided
that he wanted to sleep over on Windbird tonight. He has never done an
overnight away from mommy and daddy. We were a bit surprised with his
announcement, but we were anxious to give it a try. Right now he is sound
asleep in the v-berth. I will sleep there with him tonight, but he assured
me that he would be fine if I didn’t. I’m sure Heather and Jed were more
surprised than we were with his announcement that he was ready for an
overnight. They were willing to let him give this a try but I know how hard
it is to watch your first child start making those steps to independence.
At the last minute Jonah decided that he wanted to come and stay as well.
We had a great time on Windbird, but when it came time to get ready for bed
he looked a little sad and said he wanted his mommy. So Sam and I took him
home. When Jonah decided not to stay, Sam got a little sad as well. He
really wanted to stay but he really wanted someone from his family to be
with him. So I told him to come with me to take Jonah home and then decide
whether he wanted to come back. It was a hard decision for him, but he
finally opted to return with me. He so wants to get up early and paddle
around Eel Pond. We took both boys out into Great Bay to fish in the early
evening. They like the idea of fishing but what they really like to do is
just mess about. We drifted close to shore at one point and could see the
grass on the bottom. We watched small fish jumping and then we saw a big
jelly fish. They are both fascinated with sea life and could spend hours
just drifting about in the dinghy. And so could we, so we make great
partners.
Mark had his eleventh chemo treatment today-only one more to go. His blood
work shows that all of the levels are still in the normal range and after a
weekend of good eating, he has gained five pounds in one week. His white
cell count has dropped a bit, but it is still in the normal range. The
oncologist told him today that it is very unusual for anyone to get to his
point in the treatments and still have normal counts. Mark is obviously a
fighter. And even with the complications caused by his bladder issues, he
is somehow managing to stay strong.
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| 120710 Day 145 Cape Cod, USA–Apricots from NM, Fishing with Grandkids |
